title: Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum seroprevalence in dairy sheep and goats mixed stock farming.
abstract: Toxoplasma and Neospora infections are important causes of abortions and economic losses in animal production. Mixed stock farming of sheep and goats is a common practice in Mediterranean countries and could serve as a suitable model for the evaluation of differences between the two animal species regarding parasitic infections. In order to investigate the seroprevalence of T. gondii and N. caninum among flocks of small ruminants in Greece and to evaluate any prevalence difference between sheep and goats kept in mixed flocks, 833 sera samples (458 sheep and 375 goats) from 50 mixed flocks in different areas of the country were examined by ELISA for the detection of specific antibodies. Specific IgG against T. gondii were detected in 53.71% and 61.3% and against N. caninum in 16.8% and 6.9% of the sheep and goats, respectively. Goats had higher Toxoplasma seroprevalence than sheep (p<0.05), while sheep had higher Neospora seroprevalence than goats (p<0.05). The present study is the first report world wide, on the seroprevalence of T. gondii and N. caninum in sheep and goats that are kept together in mixed flocks.
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diakoua
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University Campus, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: diakou@vet.auth.gr.
authors.forename: Diakou
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Anastasia
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papadopoulos
authors.forename: Papadopoulos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Elias
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Panousis
authors.forename: Panousis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nikolaos
authors.forename: Charilaos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Karatzias
authors.forename: Karatzias
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Charilaos
authors.forename: Nektarios
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Giadinis
authors.forename: Giadinis
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Nektarios
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / Q000662:veterinary; D005260:Female; D015511:Goat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006041:Goats; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D018688:Neospora / Q000502:physiology; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D012756:Sheep; D012757:Sheep Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000502:physiology; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan
keywords: Goats; Mixed flocks; Neospora; Seroprevalence; Sheep; Toxoplasma